His Unidentified & Untouchable Mate

A Late Night Phone Call

Zahraa POV

I couldn’t sleep.

Ingrid had stayed until her mother’s shift ended, and I walked her home and stayed a while with her mother. As expected, they were devastated. The chaos was not abating as expected, and there were no leads to be found. Ingrid told me it’d be a long, sleepless night.

Of course, I was family to them, so if I wanted to stay…

I politely declined.

When I stayed with Ingrid, we ended up holed in her room, talking about her feelings, or my feelings, or whoever’s feelings were most relevant at the time. And at this point, Ingrid’s mother needed Ingrid more than Ingrid needed me.

So I went home alone and went through my nightly routine: shower, eat something, watch the newest release of whatever show was on that night, then go lay in bed and scroll social media until sleep claimed me.

Except it didn’t.

So, when my phone dinged at 2am, I was awake to check the message – more so than that, I was surprised to see that it was Jacob.

Saw you were online. Can’t sleep?

I stared at the message for a while. We’d parted on shaky terms, and I couldn’t ignore the fact that he hadn’t reached out to Ingrid. Well – maybe I should. He had a lot more on his plate…

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t remove a weight knowing that Ingrid wasn’t upset about the Live, but I was still upset about how he’d behaved.

And then there was the matter of my file. The more I thought about it, the more I really wanted to know what information it contained. My memories of my childhood were fuzzy at best – I barely remember anything before the Wild Fangs, in fact.

Except that I was afraid all of the time – except that I was alone all of the time.

The memories didn’t matter to me; all I needed to know was that life was somehow better here. And here I needed to confront Jacob – starting with this message.

Ingrid visited today, I sent. Then, in a separate message: I’m worried about all the missing wolves.

Within seconds, he replied, me too. I saw the three little dots dance at the bottom of our messages, and didn’t have to wait long for the next to arrive. I’m doing a little digging of my own. Investigating the Western Pack now.

The Western Pack was where all the adult gammas went to train for two years before being stationed around the four packs, or in the central pack. If ever there was a rogue attack, the west was in charge of putting it down. If there was a mission that required militant force, Alpha Jared dispatched a force to handle it. They were known for their strength.

And that wasn’t always a good thing.

Omegas didn’t really like setting foot in the Western Pack. There were nasty rumors about the treatment of those within, and horror stories of missing wolves, scarred wolves, traumatized wolves coming from its ranks.

I’d always been told to avoid it.

What kind of investigation? I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat. A strange sort of apprehension was rising within me – as if I were the one staring into the face of trouble.

Right now, just wandering around and sniffing the place out. I mean, I don’t think I’m going to find anything, but it can’t hurt to look, can it?

I checked the clock again, as if I’d been mistaken about how late it was – but no, the clock read 2:16. It’s a bit late to be sniffing, don’t you think?

Those dots continued their dance, then stopped. For a moment I wondered if something had happened, but then the display on my phone lit up with an incoming call.

My breath hitched in my throat, and I sat up in bed. After a moment’s hesitation, I answered with a cautious, “Hello?”

“Hey,” Jacob answered, voice sounding unburdened. “Hope I’m not bothering you. Were you trying to sleep?”

I rose from the bed, adjusting my soft shorts and scratching the exposed hip underneath. “Kind of. It wasn’t going well for me.” I paused, and realized the sound of his voice was making me feel a bit unburdened too. “If you’re snooping around the West pack, I imagine you’ve given up completely.”

There was a long pause, then a sigh. “Yeah. Well. I don’t know how I’m supposed to sleep right now.” There was a pause, a shuffle on the other end of the line and the sound of wind on the receiver. “My dad doesn’t really want me helping with this search. He wants me inside, doing clerical work. I’m usually pretty good at that, mind you, it’s just that… well…” Jacob sighed, “He’s just using me like a lackey.”

My heart throbbed for him. I put him on speaker while I poured myself a glass of orange juice. “That must be frustrating.” I put the container back in the fridge and took a seat at my small, two-seater kitchen table. “What are you hoping to find at the West Pack?”

“Well,” he sighed, “We went over numbers in our meeting tonight. Most of the missing people come from here. So, I’m not really sure what I want to find, but I have a feeling that I’ll find it here.”

I took my orange juice to my bedroom and pondered my closet before changing into a shirt that looked as though it’d been slashed, the gaps in the material filled in with black lace, and similar black lace falling down my arms to my wrists, where I tucked it neatly into gloves. I slipped on some jeans and some socks while I asked, “Where exactly are you?”

“Near the pack house now,” he replied, and I could hear him move the receiver away to yawn. “Taking a break at a picnic table.”

I drained the orange juice glass and rinsed it, leaving it dirty in the sink while I opened a Door through my pantry. I stepped through, exiting through the front door of the western pack house. “How long have you been out here?” I asked, as I searched for him. I’d never stepped foot in the western pack house, so it took me a while to find the small rest area, with scattered picnic tables, neatly trimmed and maintained garden hedges and flower beds.

“Since midnight,” he admitted, and I finally found his form among the shadows.

He was at the table with his head rested on his hand, phone on speaker in front of him, shoulders slumped as though they carried the weight of the world.

I ended the call without saying anything, and the phone display lit with the details of an ended call. He sat a little straighter, staring at it in confusion.

Then he raised his head a little more, his nose tipped up so he could catch the smell of the late night breeze. Then his eyes, shining in the moonlight like those of a true predator, settled on me.

“I thought I’d join you,” I said with a forced smile. “I mean, if that’s not a bother.”

I saw the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed, the way his gaze searched my body before his hungry eyes met mine. “You could never bother me.”